deercountry | [Open] 🚬 June Flames

[still interesting to note. neither his ice nor his fire are anything dabi views as a threat to him, so it's more a matter of being curious about how shouto wants to use them. he knows he's been working on trying to improve his fire, but since the time shouto's been away from their world is a little fuzzy, touya doesn't have the best idea of where his power stands.

hence, he remains cautious. enough to pitch a fireball at him instead of calling his name. how's that for cautious?

wolf remains beside its master's leg, watching the scene below it with unblinking eyes. there's something rather revenant about the creature. it's fully formed, no longer lacking its back as it did on its initial appearance, but even still, it's kept the black flames licking along itself at different points, giving it a hint of incorporeal along its form. sure, if dabi or wolf itself wants to, those flames can vanish and leave it as natural looking as a large black wolf can look, but... usually not what touya's going for when his omen's out. for now, wolf keeps the both of them, sleeper and omen, in sight.]

Flowers don't grow underground.

[mold and fungus, on the other hand, those do. dabi glances to his side, then back to shouto.]

Uh-huh.

[ He's grown since they last encountered each other, not just physically. His powers still aren't strong enough to go up against his brother and win, but he's stronger than he was before in every way that matters. His last year with the Hunters served him well, ironically, learning independence. Alone for most of his stay, he learned independence. However, the price may have been too high. No longer tied to his classmates as he once was, Shouto has grown self-reliant, no longer looking to Midoriya for guidance but navigating the world of Trench on his own. Their friendship is still strong, same with Bakugou and Uraraka, only now his world has expanded beyond Class 1-A. ]

The one I'm looking for does.

[ He counters without malice; unrelenting. There's a reason he's down here on his own, searching through the underground with specially selected diving equipment. He's on a mission to find a treasure of unparallel worth. ]

What's their name?

[yeah yeah, go flex your muscles and tout your height to someone who gives a shit. he'll still turn you into a lump of charcoal and ash. damn perfect puppet. though dabi won't give shouto any crap for disengaging himself from the shackles of his classmates. it's better to know how to live on your own; you're not tied down to others and you can survive to outlast anyone who still clings to that weakness. he's gathered some assumptions to that, considering shouto was living in his own house. though since he arrived along with that bomb bastard and floating bitch, touya's more willing to chalk the "solo shouto" mode up to him simply not having his friends around to rely on for a while. thus he had to learn to be on his own.

poor thing.]

Ya already know what grows down here?

[so shouto must've been on a few cave explorations already. it's not dabi's first rodeo either. shouto's too far away to make out everything he's carrying and touya's not making attempts to get closer. still deciding on whether he'll stick around or ditch him.]

Wolf.

[he's so original.]

[ Funny, how well you know his motivations yet still don't understand him at all. His self-reliance did stem from necessity. Left on his own, he had no one but himself to rely on. Simple things like feeding and clothing himself became a tale of mishaps and self-awareness. When Midoriya arrived months later, he'd already established a routine and moved into his house in the woods while his classmate took up an apartment in the city. Distance and a conflict of schedules often made it impossible to see each other as often as he'd like but he's grown used to it now. ]

I know it was a treasure.

[ That answer garners only one response. ]

Is it a wolf?

[he never had much a chance (or care) to "understand" you at all. neither of those have improved after touya died. even now he watches shouto's actions and listens to his words, slotting them into a place dabi feels right in putting them. but without any real conversation between them to correct those assumptions, there's nothing for the villain to do but decide for himself what drives his little brother. at least he's not an idiot and knows well enough that shouto's surviving for himself. there's no endeavor here to try shoving his pathos down his throat.]

So ya treasure huntin...

[and touya's expression goes flat. seriously, shouto?

...

oh right. it's dark up here. he actually can't see his omen save for those blue eyes. never mind.]

Yeah? What else would it be?

[ Is it really an odd notion? That he'd be down here for something so seemingly selfish? ]

Isn't that why you're here too?

[ From his vantage point, he can see his expression change, pinpointing what that means requires a skillset he doesn't possess. ]

A dog.

[yes. if shouto's down here looking for something, dabi suspects it's something he knows will help another person in the end. especially if he already knows what it is. there's hardly a chance the hero's down here braving traps to find a flower he simply intends to put in a vase on his little living room table.]

Maybe.

[touya's come looking for useful things. for himself. no one else. he does have an aim though. a few people around town said some interesting items were found. and he wants to procure one or two...]

A wolf is a kind of dog, Shouto. Didja skip biology class?

[ ... Okay. That's weirdly accurate. Are you stalking him?! Is that how you know?! Fine. He's looking for a flower he found before whose petals have tremendous healing effects. He means to cultivate it if he can, but he's got a black thumb of death, so that's going to fail horribly, but he'll still try his hand at farmer if it means he can save people. That or... well, he'll have to wait and find out.

Kizu laughs in his head looking smug as a peach, grinning ruefully at the dog above. The sound comes so unexpected that it diverts his attention away from his brother to look at his omen, unable to comprehend what's so funny. ]

... Shouldn't it be one or the other?

[nah, it's called "knowing how you heroes work" and he's got plenty of experience in that. heroes are very reactionary compared to villains. they usually don't act with any due purpose until something "wrong" entices them to go forward. if shouto's looking for something down here, it's because he's got a purpose for it to fix or help something. probably related to someone he cares about. not really a hard train of logic to follow. heroes are very unoriginal in the thought process.

(oh my god, shouto, if you suck at gardening, don't take it out on the rare healing flower!)

if wolf is offended by the term or kizu's laugh, it doesn't give any indication of it, merely standing beside dabi's leg and waiting for the man to decide whether to stay up here or go down to join the younger man and his cat below.]

Ya serious? [what kind of basic science class did you miss, puppet? touya points to the snow leopard by shouto's legs.] A snow leopard is also a cat, idiot. Felines are cats, from tigers to house cats. Canines are dogs, from wolves to shibas. Avians are birds, from hawks to chickens.

[~~you say one fucking word about his unconscious example of bird-kind and he'll burn your futon.~~]

[ Are calling him predictable? After he surprised you with his fire? He'll surprise you with other things too just you watch. He's not as uncreative as he seems. Even if his motives don't change, the way he goes about reaching them is something he thinks about a lot.

(Fine. He'll find someone with a green thumb. /looks at dabi🙂)

She's a snow leopard thank you very much. She's not surprised you and your dog don't know the difference. ]

I know that, but Kizu doesn't like being called a cat.

[ Shouto over here throwing everyone under the bus. Also, he's not academically stupid just socially. ]

[uh-huh. he's not talking about his damn fire. hmph. dabi may or may not have his own thoughts about shouto's progress. news flash, they're probably negative. if they exist. right. even if his attention's been focused so much on endeavor, touya's kept his eye on shouto, watching his little brother's growth. he may have issues with him, but he isn't outright dismissing him.

(... what are you looking at him for? he barely grew weeds.)

snow leopard = big cat. he's surprised the pair across from him doesn't understand that. wolf itself is indifferent to these three idiots. ~~"he", but dabi still doesn't refer to his omen as a living creature... yet.~~]

Uh-huh. And yet Wolf bein a dog and a wolf trips ya up?

[considering how long shouto's be under a certain bus, it's a forgivable offense. touya never thought his brother stupid academically. so either he's missed a lesson... or his little shit brother's being a pain in the ass on purpose.]

[ His progress is directly related to his desire to become strong enough to take on his brother's burdens. So, keep watching.

(You're the broker, don't you have some miracle grow?)

She's a wildcat, not some domesticated version of the alleycats Shouto feeds during some of his patrols. Maybe he's not fully formed because you won't even acknowledge his existence... just a thought. Kizu on the other hand was always by his side with a personality larger than his for most of their time here. Shouto is slowly beginning to match her and take the reigns, but he's not there yet, so his omen doesn't fully listen to him. The opposite problem of Touya's omen. ]

But your omen's name is Wolf, doesn't that make them a wolf?

[ He looks at the shadowy form behind him. Turquoise eyes just like theirs, cloaked in flames of black. ]

Why is your omen on fire?

[ Kizu was always as she is, bold and present, with no ostentation. It's the first time he's seen an omen on display like this. ]

Edited 2022-06-17 18:52 (UTC)

[ya wanna take on his burdens? then go kill dad. there, burdens all solved. he'd totally watch that. though might have some irritation that he wasn't the one who got to pull the proverbial trigger in person.

(do they sell plant food in convenience stores? he might have some...)

okay, but there's still that "cat" root after the "wild" part. and maybe that's so. dabi treats wolf more as an extension of his power rather than a separate entity, though the omen hasn't yet made any real effort to differentiate between the "tool" idea and the "partner" reality. then again, with touya's distrust and self-centered focus, it's probably not surprising he values his omen based on its usefulness to him rather than having any real bond of trust or friendship with it.]

It is a wolf.

[ugh, this is getting ridiculous. dabi pushes forward with his leg and steps right off the ledge he's been perched on. falls forward in a quick flip before blue fire erupts from his soles, cushioning his fall like reverse rocket thrusts. lights up the entire cavern area as well as fills it with a burst of heat. he alights on his feet and the fire drops away, some of it still chewing on some rocks nearby from the splash damage.

wolf follows him, this time clearly visible in the dwindling light. yeah, it's definitely a large black wolf, head higher than dabi's waist, a few patches of silver fur amid the black, ebony flames licking off its shoulders and along its back and tail. the same turquoise eyes match touya's, glowing softly in the darkening room.]

No clue. First time it showed up, it was only half there. Rest was fire.

[just like how touya and dabi are cobbled-together from his life experiences, stapled and scars, wolf also bears similar elements of being a revenant, traces of ghostly other-worldliness lingering on it. it's not meant to be a very comforting image, but then again, neither's dabi.]

[ He's not killing anyone, not Endeavor nor the beasts of this place.

(Depends, really. Watch him start to look for plant food and get very seedy info from the streets and ends up at his front door looking hilariously out of place with a flower pot in hand looking for a bit of soil and mulch.)

The wild part is important. His omen was independent from the start. A reflection of his deepest desires from a time when he felt completely suffocated by all that lay ahead of him. Back then, he felt defeated, his failures on display to the world after Dabi released his tapes. Kizu reflected his innermost feelings refusing to listen to anyone or let anyone see her. For half a year, she never showed herself to anyone, dwelling within him. It took Shouto a long time to slowly let go of those feelings, and with his acknowledgment of his inadequacies, he changed. His Paleblood powers began to manifest and Kizu began to change her ways. She still doesn't come except when they're home away from prying eyes, but when he's in danger, she turns corporeal ready to defend. She lingers now only because of his curiosity regarding his brother's omen. His intrigue becomes hers.

Dabi rises and Kizu steps closer to her Sleeper who raises a hand to stave off the blue that lights up the cavern embellishing his entrance. His eyes adjust to the new lighting, finding Kizu at his side matching the size of Dabi's omen. ]

When did they show up?

[ There's interest in his tone, his eyes shifting down to the black specter. He has an urge to touch it, see if those flames would hurt him, but he knows other Sleepers don't generally touch each other's omens and so refrains.

Kizu doesn't and steps forward to examine her 'polar' opposite. ]

[too bad for you then. those creatures'll probably be the death of you at some point.

(hah, the idea of some shadow-bound ruffian selling out secretive information about some bloke with special potting soil. a league of shade gardeners, who plant and flower in the privacy of their cult. while dabi's left with shouto turning up to ask for some. ugh, won't even go through the proper channels...)

in contrast, touya knew nothing about omens for his first week or so here. even when he read about it in that information booklet, he dismissed it due to needing to deal with more pressing matters. like getting a place located and set up so he could finish treating his injuries. but by the end of his second week, he'd at least began working on the summoning. sure, the actual summoning part was easy enough (strange as it was) but keeping it manifested and not knowing why the omen looked like the front half of a wolf sticking out of an invisible furnace was... frustrating. especially since he really only had kizu to compare it to. but perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised that his omen was a failure at the start... it's a reflection of himself after all. touya didn't put too much effort into bonding with or perfecting his omen, but rather lingered on what it could do and how to use it.

wasn't until almost a month in before he found himself lounging on the couch one day and suddenly found a big furry head flopped on his lap. so sometimes he's sit with wolf, hand resting on its head while his eyes went nowhere as his thoughts ran wild.]

About the end of my second week here.

[dabi slips his hands into his pockets. probably should be telling wolf is not as bulky as kizu. it'd likely go down in a physical brawl, if that actually meant anything between omens. but when the leopard steps forward, wolf's lips curl backwards, revealing white teeth that are probably a bit longer and more menacing than a normal wolf's. the telltale growl also rumbles in its throat.]

Had other things to focus on.

[ Touya's arrival coincided with two of his classmates. Maybe that's why that first month seems like a blur to him. He'd come out of a Sleeper cocoon only days and found his friend, Midiriya, missing after a Kaiju attack. With the help of Bakugou and Uraraka, they managed to rescue Midoriya from beasthood and kept a close eye on him for the rest of the week. He'd also had his first Paleblood vision during that rescue leaving him jittery and out of place. It was then that Kizu first decided to show herself for the first time, allowing Midoriya to see her while he struggled with his corruption. He'd met with his brother somewhere in between. It's hard to pinpoint, so he simply asks. ]

Was that before we met at the Lumenarium or after?

[ Kizu keeps moving untroubled by the show of teeth and aggression. Shouto has felt a great many things for his brother - anguish, defeat, frustration, guilt, longing, regret, surprise, uncertainty, sympathy, and hope - but he's never been frightened of him. Even when he tried to burn him alive, shock is what hit him the hardest. ]

What things?

[ Shouto looks to his brother, no longer focused on his omen which deters Kizu's attention too, her head turning away from the wolf to watch its Sleeper. ]

[he hasn't seen much of them since that initial month. the explosive kid on the network, and then later on the floating girl and the green kid while he was out raiding portals. shouto's mostly been the main point of contact with the rest from his world. not that dabi's actively trying to be a part of whatever lives they've all got going on here. it's not his problem and there's not much reason to have the league joined up. certainly easier to go about things on his own terms and deal with the problems that arrive without being tied down to anyone. safe to say no one but shouto's seen his omen for now. then again, dabi doesn't usually have wolf out when he's meeting with people. he's intimidating enough on his own.]

After.

[shouto hadn't given him even a week's worth of time before latching onto him and wanting to know if he could help. taking the tour around the largest medical center wasn't a negative thing, but it certainly gave dabi more things to think about than "setting up" some kind of spirit animal intrinsic to everyone here.

wolf's aggressive hackles towards kizu remain and it doesn't back down from its stance. dabi feels no real threat from the snow leopard now, knowing that despite her independent autonomy, she still is a reflection of shouto's feelings. particularly parts he's probably not willing to acknowledge just yet.

still, once kizu's attention turns back to dabi, wolf vanishes, no longer needed for scouting or interest. a few lingering black flames fade out in the air after it's disappearance.]

Survival. Gettin settled. The kinda things anyone thrown into this shithole should do.

[ Almost a year ago, he arrived on the black shorelines of Trench. In the time before Midoriya's arrival, he was forced to learn how to fend for himself and find purpose in a hellscape he didn't understand and wasn't nearly jaded enough to accept. So, he settled into a run-down shack on the outskirts of Prufrock District using every spare minute to turn it into a peaceful abode where koi fish splashed in the water to get his attention every time he set foot outside. He found purpose in the faction of the Hunters he joined. The Hunters were an organization familiar with what he knew back home, but he clashed with their ideals. Death wasn't something he could accept let alone deliver; beast or not. So, he patrols on his own, occasionally taking on a dangerous patrol with fellow a Hunter who shares his same ideology.

Midoriya's arrival sparked a return to form. A longing for home he'd forgotten about which only grew inside him when Bakugou and Uraraka arrived. The three of them were a taste of home he'd forgotten. Touya's arrival cemented that feeling causing him to pull away from the ideals he'd built in Trench. He was changing, but not yet fully formed. He's not the Shouto Touya remembers from their last encounter. He's grown. His world expanded. He was forced to live on his own all over again, and now there's a distance between his classmates and him that wasn't there when they all lived together in the dorms. That's why he latched onto Touya so readily when he first arrived. A touch of home that he was no longer afraid to reach for.

Maybe this is part of growing up or maybe it's just him. Either way, Touya may have found it odd that with all the free real estate available, he chose to live off the grid away from his friends, preferring the peace of the forest and the company of the koi fish that he diligently feeds every morning with the rising of the dawn.

Kizu shimmers gold and disappears returning to her perch inside her Sleeper. She stretches within his ribcage lulled by the beating of his heart. So long as it beats, she's unafraid. Shouto is used to her disappearance and when he feels the strange weight on his chest, he knows she's gone.

Speaking of getting settled. ]

Did you get the jams?

Edited 2022-06-18 01:38 (UTC)

[purpose? nah, he doesn't find "purpose" in the realm of the hunters. merely a way to survive, a place to continue to use his quirk and get stronger, a venue to vent his frustrations and sadistic urges, and if it happens to make people safer well that's a byproduct that touya can't avoid. oh well. they'll probably get killed some other way. seems like there are a million ways to die in trench. including the ground deciding it's had enough and just "fuck this" dropping itself out from underfoot.

death was easy for touya to deliver. the first time he witnessed it had gutted him... horrified at seeing the life of another human being ended in front of him. only then did he realize what he had done when he escaped from that daycare/jail of all for one's. he'd left it burning to the ground as he ran. who knows how many of those kids escaped, who knows how many of them died in his fire. the first time he'd consciously killed someone else... it'd thrilled him, knowing he had that kind of power. knowing his father could never accomplish that sort of action. one more way he followed endeavor's design for him and surpassed enji todoroki.

it's easy to tell that shouto's different from the last time he saw him back home. leaving the kid in a burned heap on the floor, unwilling to kill him since endeavor had passed out. touya knew he'd see him again on the battlefield of the upcoming war. which is now on hold since he's in this stupid place. but shouto here is changed from all of that. his experiences in trench and beyond have molded him in ways touya can easily see and ways he can't fathom at the moment. one might consider this an opportune time to "get to know" his little brother. well, he certainly hasn't tried to kill the kid so far, so that counts for something, right?

still doesn't give shouto free passage to latch onto him. gross.

whatever. it's both odd and understandable that shouto would live where and how he does. touya gets the idea that shouto had been here before any of his classmates, so of course he'd end up living on his own. no point in leaving a house he'd obviously put effort into making his own just because some of those other shits appeared in the world. while he won't say it, shouto's house is a designated safe place in touya's mental map. should he ever want to make use of it that way.]

Yeah. Must've taken ya a lotta time to do all that. [probably the only person in trench who doesn't know cooking enough to realize that shouto's gifts are abominations to the culinary world. they are from the same breed after all.] Didja sample your own work?

[once he gets some bread, he'll try a few. probably gonna start with the raspberry jar.]

[ Shouto needs a purpose, something to strive for, a goal to reach. Here in Trench, his goal hasn't changed. He wants to be someone who can put others at ease. The title doesn't matter (hero, hunter, etc) what matters is the feeling he imparts. Those are his external goals. Internally is a different story.

He's not entirely selfless. He wants things like anyone else. Familial bonds. Bonds of friendship. They're important to him. He's managed to navigate the latter forming friendships outside of Class-A here in Trench. But familial bonds... they'll always matter to him. No matter what Touya says or does, he won't ever stop caring for him. It's too much a part of his make-up, a feeling that can only be changed by ripping away every memory of him with a scalpel. ]

Two weeks. I made a batch a day.

[ One new flavor every night until he had his even dozen.

He shakes his head. Why would he taste it? He's not corrupted anymore. ]

No, but I kept some so I could incorporate them into my med kit, for corruption cases.

[dabi has the same feeling, but here in trench, the reason and goal that drives his entire life is gone. though he can continue on basic survival, without endeavor around, it's thrown him into a spiral. where he feels empty and lacking. once more pitched into the reality his life serves no more purpose. missing a reason for his own existence.

so far he hasn't found anything to fill that void. asides from the stubborn refusal to let something like trench kill him.

what familial bonds had once been with touya had long since been ripped away and thrown off. his family left him behind, buried him with the dead, and moved on as if nothing had ever happened. the same abuse, the same beaten down figures, his death didn't move a single one of them to do anything different. his purpose, his existence, meant nothing. alone. bonds are only useful for manipulating. to make any, to have any, is a foolish decision. pretense is the only method to go about it.]

Didn't even know ya could cook.

[not that touya's any better in the kitchen. unless someone needs him to burn something, but even that runs the risk o him losing control of the more fine-tuned uses of his flames. daddy never taught him that skill...]

Ya sure you weren't tryin to make some kinda medicine?

I bought a lot of different cookbooks and tried what they call fusion.

[ You know it's bad when a novice tries to fuse foods from different cultures, and that novice title is really stretching it too. The problem is that the less you know about a subject, the easier it is to think you've nailed it.

Shouto put everything Endeavor taught him into his ice and learned a depth of control he couldn't ever reach in such a short amount of time. Now, he's started to apply that same knowledge to his fire, using what he learned in his internship - concentrate, build, and release - to bolster his control. He still can't control his fire precisely as his ice, but he's getting there. ]

It is medicine, but you can eat it too.

[ Never a good sentence. Also, don't touch the raspberry! ]

Ya didn't start with the basics?

[not that dabi's one to talk, but usually when starting a new skill, you start with first steps, not jumping to... whatever fusions are. but here he is, giving shouto a flat look and wondering why he didn't make simple raspberry jam.

as far as quirks go... touya was only taught to stomp on the proverbial gas. concentrate, build, release, yes, but none of that was based on any kind of control or precision. endeavor wanted hotter, stronger, faster, racing to overwhelm all might. that's all touya ever knew. certainly nothing about cooling down or stopping was put into his impressionable head.

endeavor once told him he would be the brightest star. and now he is. burning himself out forever.]

So ya made medicine but called it jam...

[but raspberry is the one he wants to try first.]

I... wanted to give people something better than basic.

[ Better than the jam they could buy at the food market. That's why he stubbornly stuck to his even-dozen even if he wasn't sure if lemon jam would actually taste all that good.

The thing is, Shouto refused to use his fire after a time and there was nothing Endeavor could do to force him to comply. With no spare to replace him, he switched tactics, letting him hit continue with his rebellion knowing he'd hit that proverbial wall of what he could accomplish with only half of his quirk. When Shouto finally came around, he didn't need to teach him how to cool down or stop, he learned to do that on his own thanks to his mother's quirk, it was getting him to become hotter that was the problem. ]

It's both. [ He says stubbornly. ] It's jam, but it's also good for you.

[ If you can keep it down and dear god, there are 12 different flavors! Try ANY OTHER ONE! ]

But ya never made the basic kind before.

[why is he giving cooking advice to his little brother? dabi doesn't really know any cooking advice in the first place, but even he knows you should make the original recipe once before starting to screw round with it. (lemon marmalade is awesome, so long as shouto's not making it...)

you'd think endeavor would've reconsidered encouraging his son to become hotter when his first one burned himself to cinders doing the very same thing. but no, touya was nothing in endeavor's eyes. only an experiment that failed, something he could easily crush the remaining dust of his charred corpse underfoot and brush it away to forget it ever existed. in the end, touya's death amounted to nothing in his family's life. a realization that killed him a second time in front of his own shrine, when he left touya in the grave and dabi was born anew as he walked out of his old life forever.]

Uh-huh. [the idea of a bunch of hunters carrying emergency vials of shouto's jam into battle is... ridiculous. but if it works as he says, hey, he's seen worse tools used.] Guess I got somethin to look forward to.

[nah. raspberry looks good. he'll try some tonight.]

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